VMworld 2014: VCP NV Exam Experience

It is with great relief that I can announce I have passed my VCP NV (Network Virtualisation) having been caught out by the difficulty of the exam and failing previously.

Exam Preparation

I was fortunate to attend a VMware internal bootcamp (roughly equivalent to the ICM course) for NSX and have had experience deploying production NSX environments, so that is by far the best preparation. As always, the exam blueprint is crucial, you *have* to know all areas covered there. I’ve also been reading the documentation and design and deploy guides published by VMware, and completed the basic and advanced hands on labs that are also freely available. On top of that there is the official practice exam which I strongly suggest you do as it reflects the real exam well, and there are a series of fantastic practice tests by Paul McSharry available while provide a decent test of knowledge.

Exam Experience

It’s a typical VMware VCP level exam consisting of 120 multiple choice questions with 120 minutes to answer them. That’s 1m per question, it may not sound a lot but there are plenty of questions you will answer in seconds. I completed the exam in about 1h25m. Other than that there’s not a huge amount to say about the exam itself due to NDAs!

Advice for takers

Study the blueprint, it really does cover everything you need!
It seems obvious, but know the packet walks and understand how encapsulation changes packets
Have a clear and precise understanding of the components and architecture, and what the use cases are
If you have access to the binaries, install, break, fix, remove, repeat! If not, HOL, you don’t have to follow the guides, you can do your own thing.

Next steps

My score wasn’t great (a pass is a pass right?) so I’m keen to go back over some weaker areas to start with. I am definitely going to look at recertifying my expired CCNA, as this is really good knowledge to take into any NSX engagement. With the VCIX exam recently released, I’ll look towards that also. Finally, lots of lab work with vCAC 6.1 and NSX to really maximise its potential. NSX shines when you see it automated.